Ice crusher



Feb. 14, 1939. Q AUSTERN ET AL 2,147,394

ICE CRUSHER Filed May 6, 1958 INVENTORS CARL AusTe-RN BYEo/MRD H.VAfvDEnwEn/r A RNEY Patented Feb. 14, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICEICE CRUSHER Application May 6, 1938, Serial No. 206,320

3 Claims.

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in an ice cubecrusher.

The invention has for an object the construction of a simple crushingdevice which is char- 5 acteri'zed by' a bottom container and a topcontainer arranged in a manner so as to catch all of the broken iceparticles.

More specically, it is proposed to arrange the containers telescopicallyrelative to each other and to provide a plurality of pointed elementsmounted on the top and base Wall of the containers and directed towardseach other for cracking a piece of ice placed within the containers whenthey are forced together.

Still further the invention proposes to so design the ice cube crusherthat it may be of various shapes, as for example, square, rectangular,round, etc.

Another one of the objects of this invention is to so construct the icecube crusher that it 'may be made from molded plastic materialsl orsimilar materials, or sheet metal and the like.

Another object of this invention is the construction of a device asdescribed which is simple and durable, and which may be manufactured andsold at a reasonable cost.

For" further comprehension of the invention, and of the objects andadvantages thereof, reference will be had to the following descriptionIand accompanying drawing, and to the appended claims in which thevarious novel features of the invention are more particularly set forth.

In the accompanying drawing forming a material part of this disclosure:-

Fig. l is a schematic view showing an ice cube Crusher being operated byones hand, the side walls of the Crusher being broken away to showinterior construction.

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional View of the ice cube Crusher drawn on alarger scale than that shown in Fig. 1 so that it may be readily viewed.

Fig. 3 is a horizontal sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of' Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional view of an ice cube crusher constructedaccording to a modification of this invention.

Fig. 5 is a horizontal sectional View taken on the line 5--5 of Figa.

The ice cube Crusher, according to this invention, includes a bottomcontainer II) having a base wall I Ila and an upwardly extending skirtwall Iilb. A top container II has a top wall IIa. and a downwardlyextending skirt wall IIb` telescopically engaging the skirt wall IIlb. Aplurality of pointed elements I2 is mounted upon the said' top and basewalls and are directed towards each other for cracking a cube of ice I3placed within said containers when the containers are forced together. Afeature of the invention resides in the fact that the containers willcatch and hold the broken pieces of ice.

The inner container I0 is formed at its outer end with a projectingflange IIJc by which it may readily be grasped to assist in separatingthe containers. Of course, the other container may be readily grippedupon its outer face. Preferably, the containers I0 and II should beconstructed of plastic material molded into the desired shape and moldedto support the pointed elements I2. These pointed elements comprisetacks having their pointed shanks extended. The heads of the tacks areembedded or molded into the plastic material forming the containers.

The containers III and II are of a certain height with respect to eachother and with respect to the projecting distances of the pointedelements I2. The relation between these parts is such that when thecontainer is completely closed the skirt wall Illbi of the containerwill strike the top wall Ila of the outer container, and the pointedelements I2 of each of thev containers will have their pointed endsVseparated by a very small distance. The dot and dash lines I2 in Fig. 2indicate the relative positions of the pointed elements when thecontainers are closed. It will thus be noted that it is impossible toinjure the pointed elements by having them engage each other.

With respect to the shape of the ice cube Crusher it is pointed out thatwhile an oblong form is illustratedthis is merely a matter of design. Anoblong form would be desirable in that it closely resembles the shape ofan ice cube. The shape of the container may be varied, and such shapesas Square, round, etc., may be employed. 'I'here is a large choice ofplastic materials which may be used, but the one preferredy for thisinvention is beetleware.

In Figs. 4 and 5 a modied form of the invention has been illustratedwhich distinguishes from the preferred form in showing a constructionutilizing soft sheet material in the construction of the device. Adesirable sheet metal would be aluminum. According to this form of theinvention the ice cube Crusher includes a bottom container 20 having abase wall 20a and an upwardly extending skirt wall 201). 'Ihe sk1rt wall20h is telescopically arranged in relation to a skirt wall 2lb of a topcontainer 2I which alsor has a top Wall 2Ia. 'Ihe bottom container 20'is arranged as the inner container. It is provided with a projectingflange 20c at its outer end formed by shaping the material of thecontainer. A plurality of pointed elements 22 is mounted on the top andbase walls of the containers and are directed towards each other forcracking a piece of ice 23 placed Within the containers when thecontainers are forced together so that the containers will catch andhold the crushed ice.

The pointed elements 22 are held in position in a novel manuel'. The topcontainer 2l is provided with a rigid strong sheet member 24 immediatelyadjacent its inner face. This sheet member may be a sheet of steel. Thepointed elements 22 comprise tacks, and the heads of these tacks arerested against the sheet 24. A pair of sheets 25 and 25 are formed withperforations and are engaged over the shank portions of the tacks sothat the inner sheet 25 is immediately adjacent the heads of the tacks.The skirt wall 2lb of the top container is formed with a recess 21 aboutits perimeter which clamps in and holds the various discs 24, 25 and 26xed as a stationary unit. The disc 25 is of strong material such assheet steel. The disc 26 is of aluminum material similar to the materialfrom which the container 2| is constructed. The purpose of the steelsheet 25 is to firmly hold the `tacks`22 with their shanks extended sothat there will be no tendency of breaking away laterally when a pieceof ice is being crushed.

The bottom container is constructed very similar in respect to thesupporting of the pointed elements 22. There is a steel sheet 24immediately adjacent the top face of the base wall of the container 2U.The heads of the tacks 22 rest against this steel sheet. superimposedabove this steel sheet 24 and over the heads of the tacks there is asteel sheet 25 adjacent which there is an aluminum sheet 26'. Thesesheets 24, 25 and 26' are rigidly held in position by a pressed in area2l formed in the material which forms the container 20.

The soft sheets 26 and 26' are shown formed with frusto-conical portions26a surrounding the shanks of each of the pointed elements 22. Thesefrusto-conical portions are formed when the pointed elements or similarelements are stamped and forced through the sheets 26 and 26',respectively. They serve to form a neat base construction at thejunction between the Shanks and the sheet metal materials.

The form of the ice cube crusher shown in Fig. 4 is circular intransverse cross section. This is merely one possible form and it shouldbe clear that other forms may also be used.

While we have illustrated and described our invention with some degreeof particularity, we realize that in practice various alterationstherein may be made. We therefore reserve the right and privilege ofchanging the form of the details of construction or otherwise alteringthe arrangement of the correlated parts without departing from thespirit or the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new and desire tosecure by United States Letters Patent is:-

1. An ice cube crusher comprising a bottom container having a base walland an upwardly extending skirt wall, a top container having a top walland a downwardly extending skirt wall telescopically engaging said irstskirt wall, a disc adjacent the end wall of each container, a pluralityof tacks having their heads rested against said discs and their pointedends directed towards each other, a perforated disc adjacent each ofsai-d discs and having the pointed ends of the tacks passing through theperforations thereof and engaging the heads of the tacks for holdingsaine down, and the skirt walls of said containers having inwardlyprojecting portions engaging f said discs for holding them fixed inposition.

2. An ice cube crusher comprising a bottom container having a base walland an upwardly extending skirt wall, a top container having a top walland a downwardly extending skirt wall telescopically engaging said rstskirt wall, a disc adjacent the end wall of each container, a pluralityof tacks having their heads rested against said discs and their pointedends directed towards each other, a perforated disc adjacent each ofsaid discs and having the pointed ends of the tacks passing through theperforations thereof and engaging the heads of the tacks for holdingsame down, and the skirt walls of said containers having inwardlyprojecting portions engaging said ,e

discs for holding them fixed in position, and the innermost containerbeing provided with a projecting flange at its outer end for ease ingripping the same.

3. An ice cube crusher comprising a bottom container having a base walland an upwardly extending skirt wall, a top container having a top walland a downwardly extending skirt wall telescopically engaging said rstskirt wall, a disc adjacent the end wall of each container, a plu- Arality of tacks having their heads rested against said discs and theirpointed ends directed towards each other, a perforated disc adjacenteach of said discs and having the pointed ends of the tacks passingthrough the perforations thereof and engaging the heads of the tacks forholding same down, and the skirt walls of said containers havinginwardly projecting portions engaging said discs for holding them ixedin position, and the innermost container being provided with aprojecting flange at its outer end for ease in gripping the same, saidprojecting flange being formed by bending outwardly the material of thecontainer.

CARL AUSTERN.

LEONARD H. VANDERWERF.

